Our Future
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1616: Their time at McKinley is done, and now Rachel and Quinn's plans for the future are becoming more and more real by the day. - Runaway Bride series (final installment)


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 76th cycle. Now cycle 77!_

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**"Our Future"  
Quinn/Rachel  
Runaway Bride series  
_(no series listing; sequel to 'Our Day')_  
**

With everything from Nationals, to finals, to graduation, Quinn had decided that she would leave off her great 'end of high school' clean up until the start of summer. She'd take care of textbooks, sort through the accumulated papers from this last school year and the ones before that, putting that part of her life behind her, ready to move on. It was the first official day of the summer holidays now, and she was ready. Her hair was determinedly tied away, she had bags for both trash and recycling… she was set.

She'd been at it for no more than twenty minutes when she heard the doorbell from downstairs and then a few seconds later she heard steps on the stairs that were unmistakably belonging to her girlfriend, and she smiled just as Rachel stepped into the room, a folder in hand.

"Hey, I thought you were going to…" she started to say, but then Rachel was sitting next to her and holding the folder out. "What…"

"I think I found it," she declared.

"Found what?" Quinn asked as she opened the folder.

"Our apartment," Rachel announced happily, and Quinn chuckled.

"Well that didn't take long."

"We should probably find a way to visit it first, but it has everything we could ask for, it's geographically ideal, keeping our budget in mind, so that even if we're not exactly right next to our respective schools, the commute is as straightforward as it could get. The neighborhood will be good, too, and we'll have access to…"

"Breathe, hey, hold on, let me look at this," Quinn begged. There used to be a time when she would have rolled her eyes at the word spewing she'd just suffered, but now it was downright adorable to her.

"Sorry, just excited," Rachel admitted, and Quinn nodded to herself before looking at the pages printed from Rachel's computer, complete with handwritten notes in the blank spots.

Quinn could hardly blame the flutters in her girlfriend's stomach. As she looked at the pages, which included pictures, she felt a twinge of her own. This was really happening, they were leaving Lima together to move into an apartment in New York, their place, together, as girlfriends, with one bedroom for them to share and everything. It seemed almost too big to believe, but there it was. They weren't in high school anymore, this was real life, their real life.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, and she just now felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. "We don't have to take it if you don't like it…" Rachel was quick to tell her, but Quinn reached for her hand, smiling.

"That's not what those are," she pointed to her face with her other hand. "They're the good ones. It looks great," she turned back to the pages in her lap.

Sometimes she couldn't believe how lucky she'd gotten. Her early days at McKinley had not been her best, and for a while she didn't see how she'd ever deserve anything good anymore. She'd been blessed in the end, not just to finally understand where her heart was, but for the one who owned it to cherish it and give hers in return.

Rachel had helped her sort through her school things with the efficiency Quinn had grown to expect from her. As they'd worked, they had made plans to go and see the place Rachel had found. At the same time, they knew they would have to try and line up a few other potential places, so they could visit them all on the same day. A week later, they were New York bound.

The moment they had seen the one Rachel had first found though, the search had felt good and done with. This was what they wanted, and with the pair of them together, there was just no way they could not get it. They'd filled in the application, and when the woman had taken it, they could all but see that she'd made up her mind to rent it to them.

"Rachel, come here," Quinn called as she stood at the bedroom window looking out.

"Woah," Rachel blinked, taking in the view. There was something about being this high up, seeing the city below, it felt like this was exactly how the world was meant to be observed.

"We should put the bed right under here," Quinn decided, and Rachel beamed.

"Why is it that every time the bedroom part comes up it's just…"

"No more sneaking around," Quinn guessed, and Rachel nodded to her. That was it. Even now, as their relationship was no longer a secret, it didn't change the fact that they both lived at home, with their parents, and whenever they felt the urge to be together, there was always that last little hurdle, knowing they had to work around not having Rachel's fathers or Quinn's mother walk in on them… again. This was going to be them jumping that last hurdle, where their relationship would be all their own, no hiding, no sneaking, just two girls in love, sharing a life.

"Quinn Fabray, I love you so much," Rachel smirked, breathing deep, and Quinn blushed, smiled back as she reached over to touch her cheek, giving her one gentle kiss, then another.

_What a strange life I would have led if I'd never had that close call. I wouldn't have her, this girl, making me happier every day to be alive._ Looking into her girlfriend's face, she could see it all flash by, all those months since the day she'd first confessed her feelings for her. They honestly had been the best months of her life, and to think that in this place, this apartment, this city, it would be the beginning of so many more months, even years if she should be so lucky, of her being her very best and happiest… It terrified her, in the best possible way.

"Good," she told her girlfriend. "Because I'm going to make it my mission in life to show you how much I love you back, Rachel Berry."

THE END

_A/N: THIS IS THE FINAL INSTALLMENT IN THE SERIES_

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_****A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!********_


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